Winnebago County is asking those people to sign up through the United Way of Rock River Valley so volunteer efforts can be more easily coordinated in case of a natural or man-made disaster.

A group called the Winnebago County Citizen Corp Council comprised of first-responders and government, education, health and social service organizations has created a program that manages spontaneous volunteers in times of disaster.

Anyone interested in signing up can visit wevolunteer.org and click "login/join" to start the process. All you have to do is provide an email address and select "yes" when the site asks to contact you in the event of a local disaster for volunteer purposes.

"It's one of those projects that you're proud of the collaborative effort and proud of how everyone came together and worked well together, but you hope it collects dust on a shelf. You never want to have to use it," council chairwoman Dina Getty said.

If a disaster happens, volunteer centers will be mobile and set up where help is needed. Even if people don't sign up through the website in advance, they can still show up to one of those mobile centers to help.

Use of United Way's 211 non-emergency information phone line will also be pushed during a disaster. President and CEO Paul Logli said the line received more than 500 calls for assistance after heavy rains caused flooding this past spring in Machesney Park and Loves Park.

"This community is a community with a heart, a very large heart, and we know that after a disaster we will have volunteers showing up," Logli said. "Our challenge is to make sure that the volunteers showing up are organized, working with these partners and ready to help and not obstruct."